Larry Bird
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Well Larry stepping down as the president , is that a good thing or a bad thing. Always did like the guy and man could he Ball. - -Right out of good ol french Lick Indiana . Man he is looking old lol , MAN that means I’m really old. - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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All the talk is that Paul George will leave the Pacers and it will take a complete rebuild to make the Pacers competitive. I bet he is figured out he is getting too old to deal with all that entails running a NBA franchise and another rebuild and wants to enjoy his retirement without the worries for a change. He is financially secure so money is not an issue.
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Pacers #1 overall pick next year without George. Would be a mess to deal with.
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Remember when the Pacers traded for Brandon Rush to play the SF and Paul George was just a twinkle in Fresno State’s eye?
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@approxinfinity B-Rush would have had a very solid NBA career if he could have avoided major injuries. The year before he tore his ACL again he shot .450 from 3pt.and .500 from the floor. He also had a career high in PPG, APG and Blocks Per game. He was just hitting his stride. 27 years old and would definitely be a key role player for teams. He would have either been playing instead of Andre Iguadala or Harrison Barnes during the past two finals runs for Golden State. That would have been cool to see. And then he would have gotten one of the many absurd contracts given out by teams this past summer.
One bump in the air on a layup and you’re never the same…
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IMHO, Rush remains the best 3 that Self has had and the only one that was so good he could carry a KU team to a ring, while rehabbing a knee. It was insane what Rush did his last season. Too many talk about his final season as not being dominating. OMG! He was the hub of a national championship team, while rehabbing a blown knee!!! I don’t recall any other player in NCAA history pulling that off!
If Josh Jackson had stayed 4 years, he might have eclipsed Rush. But remember, in comparing Rush with Jackson, Rush never once got to play with a national player of the year the likes of Frank Mason, as Jackson did. Chalmers was a great one, but he NEVER hung a season like Frank did this past one for Rush to ride the coat tail of the way Josh got to ride Frank!
Brandon never could drive it, like Josh could, but Josh will never trifectate like Brandon did. And in the 3pt era, I will take that school over driving. And never forget that Brandon could run and jump as well as Josh, and for four years he was our best defender–the guy Self turned to again an again to shut down anyone from 1 to 4.
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@jaybate-1.0 I’d take Mario and RusRob over Mason and Graham any day of the week.
Josh vs. Brandon is interesting. I don’t know if KU wins without Rush’s defense. No way Josh can guard like that, but Josh is better in other aspects. Those two swapped could possibly work, but Arthur did some of the things that Josh does also. So I’d say it’s a good thing Rush was on the '08 team and not Josh.
On the inverse I think Josh did too many things for this past years team to be replaced by Brandon. However, if Kansas had a player similar t0 Arthur at the 4 and Rush would’ve been great for last years squad. They really needed a shut down defender on the perimeter, but had nothing at the 4 forcing Josh to play a position I don’t think Rush could with his weaker frame.
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@jaybate-1-0 Wow! You would really take Mario and Russ over Frank and Dtae? I honestly don’t know who I would pick. I mean for discussions sake if the four of them were to play a two on two game, I would say that Frank and DG would beat Mario and Russ. On defense I would think that Mario and Russ have a slight edge over Frank and DG. Offense, Give it to Frank and DG. Both Frank and DG can shoot from all over, both can drive past their man, get to the rim. Mario and Russ are close but Russ wasn’t the shooter,scorer type. Mario and Russ are taller and longer than Frank. About the same size as DG. But Frank is better than Sherron. I mean, its Frank!
That’s such an interesting match up. I bet we could split this into its own thread.
Frank and DG against Mario and RussRob. Who wins??
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RussRob came to KU with a scorer reputation but was asked to take on a different role which almost caused him to leave KU. While his new role allowed KU to win a title, arguably lessened his chances at the next level. To me, RussRob will always be a critical component of the '08 title team.
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dylans said:
@jaybate-1.0 I’d take Mario and RusRob over Mason and Graham any day of the week.
I used to think that until I had a chance to step back from this season and get a little objectivity.
Chalmers and RR were the greatest defensive tandem at 1 and 2 I have seen at KU. Period.
But Frank and Devonte now go down in my book as the greatest offensive tandem at 1 and 2 that KU ever had. Period.
In the past, I have never chosen against Chalmers and RR, or Rush, or the 2008 team, because they won a ring and rings were once the ultimate currency.
But now rings appear a fiat currency, like Fed Note Dollars. Ring winners since 2008 appear to be enteratainment value engineered in an entertainment value engineered March Carney. I know many do not agree with me, but that’s increasingly how it appears to me.
So: I have to compare guys without the gold standard that rings once appeared to be.
Under this criteria, Chalmers and RR–supreme defensive tandem–are in a tie with Frank and Devonte–the supreme offensive tandem.
And if I were forced to pick one pair over the other?
Well, Frank and Devonte have done what they have done without playing on a team (this season, or last season) that had any kind of a dominant inside game. Thus, their accomplishments exceed in my mind even what the great Chalmers and RR tandem achieved. Think about it. Chalmers and RR were able to play the kind of defense they played because they FOUR future NBA draft choices for bigs inside. FOUR!
By comparison, Frank and Devonte have been doing what they do on both sides of the ball without a single draft choice big the last two seasons. Thus, we might even argue that Frank and Devonte might have played vastly better defense than they did had they had FOUR future NBA draft choices backing them up on defense so they could really bird dog opponents.
And on the offensive side of the ball, well, Frank and Devonte are just flat better as a tandem than Chalmers and RR, and Frank and Devonte never had the luxury of a backup of the quality of Sherron Collins EITHER!!!
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@jaybate-1.0 100% clear! Thank you sir! Man, I would pay money to see Frank and Devonte play against Russ and Mario!
Its not out of the realm of possibility either. I mean, maybe not 2 on 2 but all those guys could gather up for a Legends game again next year. The last one was in '11.
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@jaybate-1.0 Re-reading that first part of your post it comes back to the ages old adage: Offense wins games. Defense wins championships.
